


First Day Franks

by Demon Dreams (ScribeAzari)



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, Slice of Life, he has no idea what he's getting into
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 22:53:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17692655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScribeAzari/pseuds/Demon%20Dreams
Summary: Wally Franks begins his time as the Joey Drew Studios janitor.





	First Day Franks

One business ought to be much the same as any other when it came to cleaning up, right? So Wally told himself, as he approached the studio he’d just gained employment at. It was always kind of nerve-wracking, stepping into a new place of work, even if he’d already done the job somewhere else just fine. New faces, new rules, new places to lose track of stuff - wasn’t that always the way?

The smell of ink was pervasive as he stepped inside, a faint but ever-present backdrop. Well, maybe he should have expected that - this was an animation studio, after all. It’d still take some getting used to, he was sure. Well, he’d smelt worse, and hey, maybe he’d get to see some of those cartoons getting laid out if he paid attention.

Bustle surrounded him as he made his way in, mutters and rustlings and shiftings of chairs, scratchings of pens and heads - everyone he could see was clearly busy. Was he going to have to learn his way around by himself? Well, that might not be so bad, after a while, he didn’t need to be babysat or anything, but that didn’t stop him from feeling kind of lost and disoriented for the moment.

Someone must have noticed his dithering, as he spotted somebody heading his way. “Are you new here?” The fellow who spoke bore a fairly no-nonsense kind of face, short dark hair, and just slightly large ears. He was also wearing overalls, and smelt faintly of grease. Figuring with some relief that he must be there in an at least similar profession, Wally nodded, explaining to the man that it was his first day, and he didn’t know where anything was yet.

Doing his best not to babble too much - which could be a nervous habit of his at times - Wally asked his new acquaintance where he could get the keys to the closet he’d been told he would have for his cleaning supplies. He got the distinct impression that the other guy wasn’t too impressed with the situation, but from his muttering, it was more that nobody had apparently been told to make sure Wally had someone from the actual studio ready to show him around.

As it happened, Thomas - as the fellow’s name turned out to be - wasn’t even a studio employee at all. He was a contractor or something from some corporation called Gent - which reminded Wally somewhat of toilets by name - and was some kind of handyman. Maybe something needed repairs? Wally wasn’t sure, but he didn’t want to annoy the only person helping him so far with probably pointless questions. That could wait.

Thankfully, his closet was only a floor down, and someone had stuck his keys to the door with tape for him to find. It seemed a little impersonal, but it also wasn’t hard to see that most folks around him were up to their eyeballs in work. Maybe it was only Thomas who could spare the time today? It didn’t seem like the most welcoming atmosphere out there, but hey, it was a job.

While showing him around in what was quite likely a very minimalist tour, Thomas had some advice to impart. Some of it made plenty of sense, like trying not to make too much noise if someone was recording audio, not getting in Mr Drew or Mr Lawrence’s way - as apparently both of them were tigers when riled - and not trying to mess with any machinery if he didn’t know how to fix it.

Other things were a little more confusing, quite apart from why there’d be much machinery in an animation studio. Why did he have to stay out of the bottom floor, or watch out for ink spills? Surely the animators didn’t get through  _ that _ much ink? He’d imagined maybe some splotches from a dropped inkwell, but Thomas’ tone gave him some pause. Maybe they had some kinda vat for it that they refilled their wells from? That’d cause quite a splash if jostled too much, but it was still weird.

Before too long, he was by himself again, Thomas apparently satisfied that he’d done as much as he’d needed to before he could get back to his real work. That was okay. He had his closet now, and he could get started.

It was around lunchtime that he noticed something a little bit… off. He’d just sat down with his sandwiches from home - mmm, tuna - with every expectation of a nice rest for a few minutes while he ate. An odd little sproingy noise drew his attention, though, and he produced a rather undignified squeak of his own. There in front of him, where he was  _ sure _ there’d been nothing before, one of those cheeky-grinning devil cutouts stood.

“Oh, not  _ again…” _ The sound of his startlement had drawn the attention of another figure, who held himself with apparent authority. Trying to banish the lurching in his stomach, he peered up at the fellow, recognising with some nervousness that he looked very much like Thomas’ description of the temperamental music director. Instead of chastising him for anything, though, Mr Lawrence picked up the cutout with an irritated huff.

“These damn things keep cropping up in places they’re not supposed to.” He informed the blinking janitor gruffly. “You might have to watch out for that. I’ve no idea who keeps doing this, but it hasn’t been funny for weeks.” Huh… seemed as though he’d just been pranked by the office wiseguy, then, whoever that was. At least Mr Lawrence didn’t think he was messing with the things.

By the end of the day, Wally thought he knew what the deal was with Gent and Thomas. He’d overheard a few things about pipe installation while he was sweeping and emptying bins, and to him that meant one thing - that his initial assumption about Gent being to do with the gents was correct.  
  
It sounded as though they were upgrading the plumbing - why  _ else _ would there be more pipes coming into the place? With a chuckle, he wondered whether the ‘ink spills’ Thomas had warned him about would actually involve backed up toilets or something. Well, he was sure he’d find out soon enough.


End file.
